India's Koneru Humpy - joint winner of the Kazan Chess Grand Prix along with Slovakia's Anna Muzychuk - says, "It was the the highest ELO-ranked tournament also featuring former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk.” She was speaking to Indian sports magazine Sportstar while on her way home to Vijayawada via Hyderabad.

“The first-half was very demanding with little scope of taking any risk. That was the reason for too many drawn games,” she added.

“One of the high-points of this tournament was the victory over former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova,” said Humpy, who is also looking at the Grand Prix series as part of her preparations for the World Championship knock-outs this December.

“Having fared badly in the first Grand Prix, I feel that the performance in this second one is very satisfying. The Grand Prix series (2011-2012) features six events in all and I hope to keep improving in the next two scheduled to be held in Armenia and Turkey later this year,” the World No. 4 said.

“You need to have a lot of patience and play more steadily in the Grand Prix. You cannot take risks just like that. You have to be really good at the waiting game,” said the ONGC manager. “Never before in my career was I involved in so many drawn games in a tournament. That shows the intensity of the competition,” Humpy concluded.

Koneru Humpy, by virtue of the Kazan Grand Prix win, is expected to move up from 2589 to 2598 ELO points in the next FIDE ratings to be released soon.